A chilly, two-task start to March

23 runners gathered this evening for two tasks to local community gardens.

We were lucky enough to have brilliant task force member Bryon leading one of our tasks to a new task, the Poets Corner Community Garden where task owner Tahera had prepared the task very carefully, complete with a fine array of snacks. The runners wasted no time in getting stuck in to the gardening task which included clearing, weeding, leaf-collecting...a mixed bag of gardening tasks. Said task owner Tahera of the runners after they'd finished, "They covered so much ground, you can really see the difference."

Meanwhile I led a group to Rocky Park on the Hollybush Estate where Margaret, Michael and Basil the dog had a wonderful selection of tasks for us all, including wood shifting for the bug house (as it sounds); clearing leaves and branches and redistributing various bits of plant debris to another part of the garden.

As the evening got chillier, the runners didn't stop and they worked tirelessly for 45 minutes.

We gathered for some final pics before being joined by Bryon's team at Middleton Green's basketball court for tonight's fitness session, where the runners performed even more amazingly, whizzing through a long session of marching tricep dips, v-sits (on a cold wall), skipping shuttle runs, prisoner lunges...and that's just to name a few.

And then we ran back to base, after a few finishing stretches, to say cheerio for another week.

What a start to March.

What's coming up

So, here's what's coming up...

• On Thursday, the phenomenal Redbridge are hosting the GG social in the centre of town. Details can be found here

• And next week, we head to Columbia Road Youth Hub for a brand new, indoor, decorating task. Followed by our monthyl social! It's all go. Details and sign-up are here.

And not forgetting...

And a big shout out to Bryon tonight for leading our second task, and taking some good pics, and to Polly for backmarking.

Have a brilliant week, everyone, and hope to see you soon.

A good sized group or what!

A wonderful sized group gathered on our hotel steps last night for our final run of 2019. We welcomed first time TH runners Laurel and Chris (thank you for your wonderful contribution to tonight’s run, and we hope to see you very soon). Yes, the December drizzle kept no one away as we whizzed through our warm up, shuttling through sweepy leg squats and high knee palm-taps before forming two groups for tonight’s double-task delight.

Two-tasking it for our final run of 2019

Lieke led a team of 6 over to the Parkview Estate where Catherine was waiting with tools and instructions on how and where to plant the new delivery of fruit trees, as she and other members of the Residents Association work tirelessly to transform this beautiful spot into an environmentally friendly, edible estate. I meanwhile took a team of 20 over to Meath Gardens where brilliant Joanna and Jane were waiting in the cold patiently for us and were brilliantly prepared! We had such a lovely variety of tasks to choose from: staking trees, planting trees, moving mulch, shifting woodchip…Lots and lots to do, and the large team were kept very busy right up until 8pm.

Our final visit of the year to The Fitness Tree

And so we said our appreciative goodbyes, posing for pics, rolling eyes, and jumping for joy before making our way over to our favourite fitness tree for tonight’s fitness session. Steve, our resident running chief (thank you Steve, you have breathed new life into our drills) led our running tonight, with Leo and Isabelle heading up the hare team (the runners wanting to take it a bit easier for a variety of reasons), who headed out for the lap of the park with a good headstart before Steve led the greyhounds, tasked with catching them up. The runners arrived back at the tree panting but ready for the tree’s signature move, the beloved Bulgarian split squat before moving onto the tripod push up, standing crunch, plank with sweep & kick (eugh, what a way to see out 2019 – well done, everyone), and then we made our way back to our beautiful hotel, where we’d kindly been given a large room for the night and were able to enjoy Sarah’s homemade mince pies, Chi’s Dead Man’s Fingers rum, Laurel’s game-changing chocolate stolen, and lots of lots of nattering and laughter. 2019 – you have well and truly rocked.

Our truly dedicated Task Force

A big shout out tonight to our incredible task force: to Lieke for leading the Parkview task, and other Community Missions this year; to Leo for some great pics and leading some fabulous Community Missions this December, to Isabelle for managing our growing social side of things (we’re getting there!) and heading up tasks, and to Bryon for being on board with everything, always in the background and leading some great Community Missions too.

Thank you to our beautiful Borough

It’s been an incredible year at Tower Hamlets: we’ve made more new friends in the Borough, and had some wonderful times, from our evenings at Parkview and Meath to enjoying the Council’s brilliant #BigCleanUp, to our game changing nights of 5-aside in Shoreditch with the wonderful Get Fit Feel Inspired team.

2020 looks set to be a great year – we are SO LUCKY to enjoy the company, drive and determination of some of our Borough’s most dedicated individuals and organisations, who see community as something more than a hashtag: a word that means coming together like no other, for smiles, sweat and for the long haul. We here at GoodGym Tower Hamlets feel blessed and unbelievably appreciative, and can’t wait to see you in 2020.

Have a wonderful break, everyone.

THREE TASKS NO LESS!

What a busy night: three tasks, three beautifully organised task owners.

We met in our lovely hotel room where Torie headed up the lighting operation: attaching straps to our new head torches, and together with Emma, Isabelle & Kat, helped figure out the hows and whys of transporting our new spangly lights.

We headed out for some quick warm up exercises, welcoming late arrivals before forming three highly competent crews…

Task Force save the day again

• Kat and Isabelle led one team to Meath Gardens, where task owners, Friends of Meath Gardens, including Joanna, Julia and Jane, were ready and waiting with carts, spades & litter-picking kit for mulch moving, digging aaaand litter-picking.

• Lieke led the St Margaret’s House posse – a team of 5 taking to the streets of Bethnal Green to distribute newsletters and flyers about some exciting events this fab arts centre has coming up.

• And I led a third team to the Parkview Estate, where Catherine and little Liam greeted us with bundles of the estate’s newsletters, and the best instructions and organisation in town. The team was dispatched to all four corners of the estate, leaving no stone unturned as we distributed the newsletter to all residents, letting them know of a forthcoming litter-pick, and the new basketball hoops.

Busy bees or what.

The team at Meath were shovelling mulch, and collecting every last bit of litter, while Lieke’s leafleting posse distributed every flier given, and my team at Parkview covered the development like pros.

And then we met at our favourite fitness tree (although, according to Emma, as it’s fallen, it’s the Fitness Log. Hmmm.) The runners were led through some lovely moves, such as our boxer crunch, scorpion push up and our favourite Bulgarian Split Squat, all to Apple Music’s Summer Vibes playlist. And Chi’s encouraging words…

Shout-outs and thanks

• Welcome to our first time runners, Liz, Charlie, Adam and George (by no means new to GG, just to TH) - thanks for a wonderful session; for being so calm and productive on a very busy evening. We hope to see you really soon!

• And thanks to our wonderful task force, Kat and Isabelle for leading to the Meath task; to Lieke for helping to plan in advance, and for enabling the St Margaret’s task to happen.

• Thanks to Torie for brilliant help with logistics: with planning and light assembly, and for being a much appreciated early arrival this evening.

• And thanks to Chi & Leo for some great pics this evening!

• Lastly, thank you to the legend that is Ed Field who fast-tracked our new head torches (when yours truly had been a bit slow on the requesting front), meaning we were able to commit to the Meath Gardens task.

What's coming up...

Now, there is just one thing you need to know about coming up this week…

On Thursday evening from 7-9 we’re heading to Powerleague in Shoreditch (location here) to support our first 5-aside match as GG regulars Kat, David, Chris, Bryon & Steve take on The Young Foundation!

Come and spend some time with us: they’ll be playing, I’ll be cheering and you’ll be eating the beautiful food that’s being laid on for us all.

A lovely night out, and you can come for as little or as much as you fancy. The event details can be found here.

Until then, have a wonderful week everyone, and we hope to see you very soon!

Flags and frolics

25 runners stood on the Town Hall Hotel steps this evening to pose with our phenomenal flag as we celebrated GoodGym being 10.

This was a truly terrific task tonight: we were heading down to the Royal London to meet with Barts Volunteers and Tower Hamlets Councill for a combined effort, and with some new faces which is always one of the biggest joys of the night.

Yes, we said hello to the brilliant Siobhan from Newham, and first time runner Katherine who offered smiles, the hardest of work, and generally an all-round amazing contribution. Thank you and please come back soon. And we were so lucky too to be joined by Nurjehan and Rita who were on loan from Haringey, and wanted to celebrate #GG10 by running “where it all began”.

So. After a brief warm up and the weekly debate about which route to take, (“Fewer traffic lights would be good, what do you all think?”. “This is London, Laura, there are quite a few lights.”), we set out (weaving our way passed the many arrivals to York Hall for London Fashion Week activity).

We ran at a decent pace, with Eimear being the world’s best backmarker this week, and doing her utmost to keep the group together.

Two tasks, two TASK OWNERS

We arrived at the hospital to the warmest of welcomes from Nancy of Barts Volunteers, and James from Tower Hamlets Council.

Tasks were assigned and the team sped off:

• One team headed out with James and Mark to the front of the hospital to blitz the hotel grounds in a litter pick-and-a-half.
• Another team headed out front to get some new plants bedded into the planters by the A&E entrance.
• A third team headed to our favourite John Harrison Garden where Nancy took a team through a big operation of litter-picking, pruning and weeding the planters. The whole area looked beautiful by 8.15pm.

We picked, we pruned, we dug…We didn’t stop. Another glorious night.

Speedwork & cider

The time flew as always and before we knew it we head (and sped) back to base with our favourite greyhound-and-hare game: me leading the hares and David S brilliantly and slickly leading the greyhounds, for a blinding bit of speedwork to end the night with. Thank. You. All.

And then we all headed to our favourite bar, for a fantastic impromptu school night swifty to say cheerio to David V, who leaves us this week, and who will be much missed. David has contributed heaps in his relatively short time with us, from throwing himself into every task to providing us with some truly fine puns.

Will you check OUT what we have coming up?

Now, what’s up next. Well, the #GG10 celebrations continue as Task Force member Kat is running the most fabulous parkrun activity this weekend as part of #SuperSaturday. Join Kat and the crew for some pacing, marshalling, cake-eating and litter-picking in the park.

And next week, we’re back to two-tasking it again, as we head to Hollybush for some Autumn overhauling of the garden, and an all-new task at Canal Community Garden (yes, it’s on the canal – exciting!) to help Sally with a variety of tasks. So come on – make it an Autumn to remember and get your name down now.

But until then, make sure you have THE best week: enjoy the squirrels, enjoy the conkers, enjoy the sun as you pound the pavement, and take the very best of care of your lovely selves.

The more the merrier

What a busy Monday evening it was from the off. The sign-ups kept rising: I was keeping our task owner Nancy posted with numbers, as she has to plan carefully and ensure she has sufficient staff and those numbers just, well, kept on rising (“Yes, I expected it to be a small August group too, but, hey, what can I say…They love a litter-pick.”).

And so we gathered for hello’s and welcome’s at our usual lovely base. Thanks to our fabulous Task Force as always who are continually on hand to save the day: Kat saved the day from the off this evening, opening up the hotel room and offering a warm welcome to tonight’s first runners as I was delayed en route. Thank you.

It was such a treat to have Nicola, from new area Crewe, join us tonight too! Friendly, welcoming and managing the sign-in sheet like a pro, it was a real treat to have her visiting us here in TH.

We were also joined by first time runners Isabelle, Ivy Johnny and Lianne, who wasted no time in getting stuck in with everything from pre-run chatter to serious litter-picking and newspaper-delivery this evening.

No more tedious traffic lights

We’d decided to try a new route this evening, to cut down on traffic light delay, so Kat and Dave expertly headed up the run (route and pace) while I back-marked in full Dragon-PT mode, hustling everyone along Whitechapel streets as quickly as they could manage.

Three-task team

We arrived promptly at the Royal London reception area where our wonderful task owners Nancy, Bernadette and Richard were ready and waiting, tasks prepared.

One team headed to the wards to deliver newspapers; another to the front of the hospital to prune roses and collect a huge amount of litter, while a third, big team headed out back to the John Harrison Garden to complete another massive litter haul, filling bags and bags, picking up everything from discarded vodka bottles to unwanted umbrellas and…phone cases.

The time flew and just as nearly every last cigarette butt was removed, it was time to pack up, empty bags, return brooms, and make our way back to join our fellow runners to compare notes and say our cheerios.

Catch me if you can

We then raced back to base playing our usual greyhound-and-hare game: me leading the hares and Kat leading the greyhounds tonight. I just want to congratulate everyone on this part of the evening too: all runners pushed themselves speeding back to base in their own best times, and then cheering all the incoming runners in, right until the end. Massive effort, on all fronts, so well done.

What a marvellous night’s work. Well done to each and every one of you.

Check OUT what we have coming up…

Now I can’t wait to do it again next week. Talking of which, let me tell you what we’re up to: we’re heading back to our beloved Meath Gardens to join Tunde and the team for more watering, weeding and planting, and they’re really looking forward to seeing you, so sign up here.

Now, here’s some really good news: if you don’t fancy waiting that long for some more GoodGym fun and frolics the amazing news is, you don’t have to.

Check out what else we’ve got coming up this week:

• On Thursday our Lieke is leading the most terrific Community Mission at the very civilised time of 5.30pm for St Margaret’s House, a wonderful community arts centre located right by Bethnal Green tube, to help set up the garden with candles, blankets and furniture for their spectacular evening storytelling event! This’ll be a lovely, short, sociable Community Mission to join if you fancy it.

• …Which ties in very nicely with the next GoodGym Social, also this Thursday, so when you finish that task, you simply hop on the nearby Central Line, hotfoot it over to the Waterloo & City Line (yes, I’ve Google-mapped it for you) and in 29 minutes, you’ll be joining fellow GoodGymers at theMulberry Pub on the Southbank. What a way to celebrate our lovely summer.

• And last up for this week, we’re lucky enough to have Liv heading up the Pride 10K set-up and bag-drop this Saturday in Victoria Park. There are already a few signed up, so do join them and get your weekend off to a splendid sociable start by signing up here.

Phew! Well, that’s finally it from me for this week. Have an absolutely wonderful week everyone, and really hope to see you SOON!

Another good sized crew

It was a good sized crew who gathered for tonight's warm up on our hotel steps. After whizzing through some of our trusty usual dynamic moves (omega squats and butterfly squats), we headed out for the short, 1/2-mile route to one of our favourite tasks at nearby Oxford House, the community arts centre.

Fabulous furniture, serious scrubbing

There, task owner Sarah, along with colleague Deborah, welcomed us and talked us through tonight's task: a tough, labour-intensive task of relocating large amounts of furniture, and scrubbing the dance floor area. Even more tough as the arts centre was a hot place to be tonight (literally, due to its glass roof). The runners had even more of a sweat on as they set about racing up and down the numerous flights of stairs carrying tables, stacks of chair, and hoovers.

Several teams were upstairs scrubbing bathrooms, bringing a shine to the floors and unblocking sinks. It was quite the team effort.

As usual, the GoodGymers finished their designated work early, and so Becky took a new team off to the bar area to undertake a huge washing up effort. The small kitchen was a hive of GoodGym activity, with the most fantastic production line being formed, from the soap sud start right through to a crockery stacking finish.

The venue was the usual hive of smiley activity until just after 8 when we met for our cheerios and final pics. Brushes and buckets were rinsed; the last chairs left in their rightful homes, and the group gathered for a couple of smiley pics, a little fatigued but feeling very good.

Tonight was a sad cheerio, as although we accomplished lots, Sarah is leaving the wonderful Oxford House, for other shores and so it was our last task with her. We've loved her energy and enthusiasm, and brilliant planning and her bundles of appreciation for our lovely partnership over the last seven months.

The Weavers' workout

And so the work continued over at Weavers Fields, a breath of fresh air (literally) as we headed out to the still warm, still light, streets of Bethnal Green for tonight's fitness session. Billed as a speed and strength workout, this soon turned into a speed, drill, and super-strength workout as we were lucky enough to be joined by Chi who joined me mischievously for our favourite "who-can-deliver-the-toughest-abs-exercise" game. We think it was a draw - so did our runners, judging by the looks on their faces.

We enjoyed hamstring and hip flexor running drills; jumping squats and burpee challenges, then the great abs-and-glute-off. Despite being given the offer to sit out any exercises, the GoodGymers didn't take us up on our offer, choosing instead to hover in isometric squats, before cheerfully tackling one last sprint of the park. What an incredible fitness effort.

Let's hear it for...

So tonight’s shout-outs include a huge hello and welcome to our first time runners, Amara and Ahmed. You did so much. Thank you. Not only did you accomplish a vast amount at our task, you also achieved bundles at that tough fitness session! Do come and run again very, very soon won’t you.

And a big welcome to Kate, not new to GoodGym, but new to us here at Tower Hamlets, and we hope to see you again very soon.

Thanks to Lieke for brilliant backmarking, and to Chi for the usual fun, fabulously effective, fitness offering.

And so to next week

...Yep, moving onto next week, we're back to Meath Gardens and Hollybush Gardens for a two-task evening of gardening and clearing. And The Lower Body Blast workout. Come and join in, we'd love you to come along.

Until then, have a really good, enjoyable week, and hope to see you very soon.